What's The Point of Falling (Lumity, Human Au)

Chapter 1: Expulsion

[Principal Hal POV (3p)]

Principal Hal, with his dark skin and graying hair, sat despairingly at his desk. He was reviewing a detailed report of the latest misadventure of one particularly disruptive junior. Endangerment of the lives of students, the destruction of school property, arson?

The beleaguered principal let out a sigh. This was the third time this month that the girl's been written up.

The kid had a creative spark, anyone could see that, but she was destructive. The man had given her warning after warning, but she's yet to have heeded his words. He's always prided himself on being fair, but this includes being fair to his staff as well. They'd been through enough. Plus, the school couldn't continue paying for all their therapy sessions.

He picked up his phone and dialed. He heard someone answer the phone. "Hello?"

Principal Hal was sure that the women must have been sick of these calls by now. He knew he was. He cleared his throat before saying "Camila Noceda?"

***

[Luz POV (1p)]

I knew I was in trouble.

Heads turned towards me when my name was called, but eyes were quickly averted as I rose from my seat. It seemed that they knew too.

Keeping my head low, I walked through the empty halls toward the office, my mind racing as I tried to figure out what I had done. It couldn't have been because of Astronomy yesterday, could it? Surely a disciplinary meeting couldn't have been scheduled that soon?

Before I was able to finish the thought, I had reached the front office. I opened the door tentatively. Only Brenda, the school secretary, occupied with a telephone, and a student helper, doing her homework, sat behind the large desk.

The student helper.

When Katie looked up to see who had entered, her eyes opened wide, only to narrow into slits upon seeing who it was.I swallowed hard.

"Um... hi. I- I was called to the office. I think I'm supposed to- to see Principal Hal?" My voice trailed off uncertainly. Katie's expression hadn't changed.

Yikes.

The secretary finished placing the phone on it's holder with a definitive click before looking up to see me. She pointed down the hall, granting me permission to walk behind the desk. Before walking down the familiar hallway, I looked back, giving her a grateful smile.

She didn't smile back.

***

Upon opening the door, I was surprised to see my mother sitting silently at one of the two chairs in front of my principal's desk.

Taking a seat beside her, I looked up at my principal. I've been sent to see the man far more times than I could count, but for some reason, this encounter was making me uneasy. Something was off. Why was my mom here?

"What's going on? Give it to me straight doc." I tried to joke, but I could feel my smile falter. The joke earned me a tight smile from the man, but that was all.

"Noceda, I told you that the next time you were written up, we'd have to call your mother to discuss different options. You know that. Yet, you flagrantly disobeyed the rules. And, just- how? How did you manage to set three of your peer's science projects on fire?"

My eyes widened. I hadn't told my mom about that yet. "Um... that was... an accident...sorry." I looked over at my mom, who didn't seem to respond to the information with much surprise. She only clenched her jaw tighter. Fuck. She knew. He's already told her everything.

Principal Hal cleared his throat. "Luz, this is serious. Last time you hadn't hurt anyone, so I let it go, but this cannot be overlooked. There's a boarding school, it's a couple counties over, but I think it would be good for you. Clearly, that summer camp in ninth grade didn't work, nor did your community service last year. We need to take some more drastic measures."

I remembered that camp. It was called something like, "Reality Check Summer Camp." Most of the adults there were awful, desperate to get us to conform, but there were a couple who were pretty cool. I met a lot of kids who I could relate to. They didn't fit in either. But we weren't even allowed to exchange contact information. Those kids, who were a part of me for so long, disappeared from my life as quickly as they had come into it. I didn't want to go through that again. I couldn't go through that again.

I felt tears welling up in my eyes. I looked up at my mother imploringly, "Mom, please." I heard my voice crack. "Please don't make me do this. I can't. This isn't what I want. Please."

But looking at her, I could tell, she had already made up her mind. "Mija..." she began. I couldn't look at her anymore. Pulling my legs up to my chest, I fiddled with my jeans, making sure they were cuffed correctly at the bottom. They were, but that didn't stop me from rolling them down and back up several times as she spoke.

"Baby, I know you're hurting right now, but this is for the best. What you need is a new environment; stricter rules. I know you're going to miss your friends, but you need this. You need a fresh start."

There were no friends to speak of, but still. Feeling a tear spill over, I quickly wiped my face, praying that they didn't notice. Of course, they did anyways. When have things ever gone my way? Principal Hal pushed a box of tissues in my direction, looking distinctly uncomfortable. I hate pity, but I took a tissue from the box carefully, wiping at my eyes as if I could scrub away the emotions themselves. My mom rubbed my shoulder, acting like she cared.

"Mija... I'm so sorry, but I've done everything I could. I just, I feel like I've failed you. I think I gave you too much freedom growing up. I'm just trying to fix my mistakes."

They were treating me like some broken object. They were going to send me away to get me fixed. But, even so, I knew there was no way out of this. All I could do was prepare. "When?"

"Tomorrow." I looked up, surprised. I hadn't been expecting the change to come so soon.

"Tomorrow? H-how?"

"We sent in the forms yesterday, they said they had space open and they wanted you to come as soon as possible. It's just a school Mija, I promise, a technical school. It'll help you. They even help to pay for your college. This is an exciting opportunity."

"Then... if it's so amazing... how'd I get in?" I didn't understand. My grades were good, sure, but my behavior was... deplorable. And, besides that, I was absolute shit at math.

"You have great grades mija, you're in all advanced classes, of course you got in."

"Okay..." I decided to just try to be excited about this. Maybe it could be a good experience. I've never done something like this before, maybe it could help me prepare for college life. I've never been much of a pessimist anyways. "What's the school called?" Maybe tonight I could get in some last minute research after I've finished packing.

"Hexside."

***

[Principal Hal POV (1p)]

I wasn't lit on fire or bit by a snake, so I'd say that went much better than expected.